Manager Giovanni Trapattoni has left the Republic of Ireland by mutual consent following Tuesday's defeat by Austria in a World Cup qualifier. The Football Association of Ireland announced his departure on Wednesday after a meeting with Trapattoni and assistant boss Marco Tardelli. The pair had been contracted until the end of May 2014. In his five years in charge, Trapattoni guided the Republic to the finals of Euro 2012. The 1-0 defeat in Austria left Ireland with only a mathematical possibility of overhauling Sweden to snatch second place in Group C. "I want to thank everyone in Ireland who has given us their support during our time here, which has always meant a lot to us," said Trapattoni. "We leave this country with emotion because we understand the Irish supporters who have a well-deserved international reputation and they have our utmost respect." Immediately after Tuesday's game in Vienna, the 74-year-old Italian had said he would wait for the FAI to decide on his future. The verdict came the following morning with a statement announcing the manager's departure by mutual consent. Trapattoni's scheduled post-match news conference on Wednesday had already been cancelled by that point, a move which heightened speculation that his departure was imminent. Speaking immediately after Tuesday's game, Republic captain Robbie Keane paid tribute to Trapattoni's efforts with the country. "It is very difficult for a player just coming off a result and speaking about a manager who has done very, very well for this country," said an emotional Keane. "He has been a credit to his country and he has carried himself the way a man of his stature should." Keane added that there needed to be a "realism" about the Republic's capability at international level. "We're a small nation and I think people get carried away sometimes and expect us to qualify all the time," he said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24043331 So what do our Irish contingent think about this?
about time. martin oneil is the favourite to come in. truth be told though I don't know what any new manager can do with our current crop of players. we're not blessed with an abundance of messi's and maldini's.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. As you can tell, not a fan of Trap at all. I only went to see them play once with him in charge and that was once too often.
We don't have a great pool of players but we have a better team that Trap was putting out. We were awful to watch. Hopefully the new manager can bring back a bit of passion.
Thank fook. Exactly this. An average Irish team without passion and energy is pure mule. That's great news to start off what should be a great weekend. Please shut the door on your way out Trap.
If Greg Dyke thinks that there is a shortage of top quality English players making it through the ranks of Premier League clubs and playing at the highest club level against European opposition and that this problem is due to the influx of foreign owners, foreign managers and too many foreign players and that lack of top English players coming though is having a direct effect on the ability of the English national team to compete with the European and World football greats, then it does not need to much head scratching to come to the conclusion that Irish football will also be hit and much harder than England as a result. I suppose the big complaint from many Irish fans would be the perceived "defend first" non-expressive direct style of football that Trap brought with him - I suppose only he and Tardelli will really know if it was their boring style of football that cost Ireland or in fact they believe that style was thrust upon them as the only viable option as the pool of talent available to them was not good enough to play their football any other way. If MO'N does come in it will be interesting to see whether Trap had got it wrong and whether he can bring Ireland back up to the "great" days of the 90s and 00s and get qualification for the next Euros. O'Neill seems to have lost his mojo a bit in the last few years and I think really needs to prove himself.
That's not a bad post for you 4stringR We have been badly hit by the influx of foreigners into all levels of English football. Very very few young Irish lads now break through. By the way it's not lost on me that technically we're foreigners too. We all know that the pool of players we have is very limited but I honestly believe that any passion, energy and interest had been drained out of them by Traps strategy of 10 men behind the ball. It was simply horrible to watch. We were raised on the theory of we're the underdogs but sure we'll give it a go. For the last few years this was missing. He outstayed his welcome by about two years. TBH, I'm delighted. MON would get them going again. There is enough young Prem talent there to at least try to play football.
Good news for soccer in Ireland. We don't have the most technically gifted players in the world but there was no excuse for the caveman soccer played under Trap. I am not convinced that anyone else will achieve any more than he has but at least some pride can be restored in the type of soccer than we play.
"That's not a bad post for you 4stringR" - Oh dear, I've suddnely realised that I CAN now go to the Birmingham game this weekend. See you there Nuts - I'll be the one waving out of the SAR window at you and pointing towards a couple of tickets touts you can try!!!
Its a year too late. Should have been shown the door after the Euro's debacle. Martin O'Neill, its over to you.
Someone give Cody a ring, I'm sure he could manage both jobs at the same time, no bother. Soon change the schtyle and performance levels.
"That's not a bad post for you 4stringR" - Oh dear, I've suddnely realised that I CAN now go to the Birmingham game this weekend. See you there Nuts - I'll be the one waving out of the SAR window at you and pointing towards a couple of tickets touts you can try!!![/QUOTE] That time of the month again stringer ? Looking forward to meeting your dad. Good bunch of lads from here going and should be a bit of Craic.
What about the North last night losing to Luxembourg? Apparently, Luxembourg have won more Eurovision's than they have World Cup qualifiers.
That time of the month again stringer ? Looking forward to meeting your dad. Good bunch of lads from here going and should be a bit of Craic.[/QUOTE] J'sus, the thought of being stuck in a pub, bang in the middle of you and my old man trying to outdo each other in the talking sh'te stakes, I'm glad I'm not able to attend. I'll give you a little bit of ammo in advance for when you meet him - ask him if he bought his "whites" and flat cap and pipe yet for the Lawn Green Bowls for next season - I think he is finding the golf too much hard work recently and has decided to hang around with people nearer his own age!!
...got a mixture of aged legends and journeymen to Euros and also had a younger crew to a WC. A few countries not a million miles away would have been happy with that. Mind you the football was pretty dire. Need to extend the granny rule and spread the net.
Don't know what you Irish R's and the FAI expected from Trapattoni. He has always set his teams up not to concede and gone from there, even when he had Brehme, Matthaus and Klinsmann at Inter. Very old fashioned manager, albeit with a decent trophy haul.
I doubt you'd be overly impressed with the favourite for their next appointment then. A certain ex-Villa manager.......
Hi SB It seems that everybody but the FAI saw that the team was on a serious downward spiral. There was loads of hassle off the pitch, with Trap refusing to pick any young player with creativity, dropping players incorrectly, lack of manager/player communication etc etc. the fact that he still needed an interrupter after five years in the job showed he wasn't fully committed to the job. He lived in Italy for most of the time between matches and rarely watched young players in action, To the naked eye that Irish team is average but IMO we have a handful of very good promising players. Coleman was one of the best fullback in the Prem last year and McCarthy was recently sold for 13 million. McClean and McGeady are decent wingers and Wes Holohan is consistently playing well at Norwich. OK, not world beaters but all decent players. We should be competitive in the second tier of European tier but we really haven't been for several years. It's shocking football to watch.
Evening Nuts. Always thought Trap was a strange choice (in fact I thought he had retired before Ireland appointed him). And the team definitely lacked that 'we're Irish, we're going to surprise you' feel from the World Cups of the 90's and '00s. I have my own views on O'Neill, but does he look like a shoe in ? Thought he was Northern Irish, was wondering if that set up some interesting tensions. See you Saturday mate.
